Prison of the Mind
by The Modern Prometheus
Summary: Not your average Harry goes to prison story. After the final battle Harry is thrown in prison and forgotten by society but he hasn't given up yet and neither has Voldemort! Mild language
1. Across Time

**Prison of the Mind**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry, Voldemort or anyone else for that matter. Slavery is wrong children! Wrong!!

"Two hundred and forty four…two hundred and forty five…."

Harry Potter pumped harder as the cold feeling started to overwhelm him again. The dementors were dropping by for a snack, how quaint.

"_You know these are very difficult calculations Har…"_

"Shut up." Harry grunted, "You know as well as I do that the best way to keep them out is to occupy the mind with something else. That just happens to be exercise; you can plot and plan after they've gone again. Two seventy eight…"

Harry was sure he heard the voice in his head harrumph but it didn't say anything else so he concentrated on pushing the memories away. The horrors of the war had been bad enough the first time around. Having to relive them on a daily and sometimes hourly basis had not been the original plan.

But then none of this had been in the original plan. That bastard Dumbledore had to go and kick the bucket before his research was finished leaving Harry stuck in prison. No one seemed to remember that he had just saved the wizarding world from Voldemort or that he had even done it with minimal collateral damage. No, he was a threat now so it was ok to drop him in prison and forget about him.

In all honesty Harry didn't blame the common folk, they were just sheep and he didn't blame the government because they were expected to be dishonest. Thankfully most of Harry's friends were dead so he couldn't blame them for not doing anything about it. So that left Dumbledore. He had made grand promises of tireless research and experimentation until Harry was 'safe' again. Considering he was the reason Harry was in Azkaban in the first place, being the one who found the final solution for Voldemort, helped execute it, then suggested Harry be 'contained' on the island fortress when things didn't go right. If he weren't already dead Harry would strangle that annoying twinkle right out of the old man's eyes, even without old Voldy in his head.

The cold aura of the dementors grew stronger until they were right outside the door bathing in Harry's memories. He made it a point to flip them the bird while continuing his pushups on one arm. As usual they didn't respond and after five minutes that felt more like five hours they dispersed to their posts around the prison.

Harry let out a sigh and dropped onto the chilly floor. Goosebumps broke out over his arms as he let his mind relax and fade into the numbness that occupied him most of the time.

"How are those calculations coming?" Harry asked the floor.

"_Very well, I think we'll be out of here soon." _Voldemort replied.

"Good, I'm sick of this prison food and the birds are wising up to me." Harry's mouth began to drool a bit at the thought of a fresh seagull. He had already eaten all the ones stupid enough to come anywhere near the island.

Thanks to sharing a body with Voldemort and room with a window he could eat fairly well. For whatever reason the guards hadn't thought to put a vaporization spell on the window like they had on the door. The last time Harry had tried to summon a loaf of bread from another cell it had disintegrated. Dumbledore had obviously warned the staff that his power would increase exponentially with Voldemort in him and for once the old man had been right. Simple wandless spells could work even under the oppressive aura of the dementors.

"_Stop thinking about seafood, we'll have a proper meal once we're out of this bloody prison. You're making me hungry, I can't even eat!"_ Harry shrugged off the whine in V's voice.

He had changed a lot since they had first joined. Those first few months had been hell. Voldemort had taken his time going through every one of Harry's memories and picked out the best ones to torture him with at night. He had only stopped once Harry made the comment that he was the only thing holding Voldemort to this mortal plane and if he wanted to stay there he'd let Harry sleep peacefully. They had formed a sort of begrudging fellowship after that. Years later, while Harry had far from forgiven the deranged bastard, he knew better than to stir up trouble with the former dark lord.

"Oh stuff it V, once I figure out how to get a fish up here we'll be eating like kings."

"_One of these days you're going to get caught and they'll move us, then I'll have to start all over again. That's another two years at least." _V warned.

"One, whose going to tell? The dementors? Come on V, no one comes down here anymore. Not after I fried that guard who was being a prick and blamed it on you. Two, what's another two years?"

"_Plenty, the sooner I get out of your head the better…uhg…it's dirty in here!"_ V whined.

"Hey you're the one who thought it would be a good idea to hide in the mind of a seventeen year old." Harry shot back.

Harry tuned V out after that and flipped over onto his back and started doing a normal set of situps. Three hundred of those and he'd be about ready for dinner. Harry had found that starvation was a great motivator. He'd get a nice big fish tonight.

"_Harry there's still time! We can get away." Ron pleaded. _

_He had just managed to stop Harry on the first floor landing but they didn't have a lot of time. Even now Voldemort was approaching the castle and his followers had the place surrounded._

"_No Ron, it's time I faced him, you two go on ahead. I'll stop Voldemort once and for all. I have a plan."_

_Ron looked at his friend for a long moment. Everything in his being told him he should stand next to his friend until death took him. But the look in Harry's eyes told him that if he didn't go willingly Harry would make him._

"_Alright mate, but be careful."_

"_Aren't I always?" Harry said with a smile before turning to the staircase and heading towards the entrance hall. It was the last time he would see Ron alive._

Harry woke to the heavy breathing of a dementor just outside his door. After a few moments it glided away and he let out a long breath. Harry was surprised. He usually had modified dreams, ala V, which let him sleep alright. He hadn't had a dream about Ron or Hermione in a long time. They had been crushed in the collapse of Gryffindor tower. Sheer dumb luck had led to their demise as the death eaters thought the obvious location would be a garrison for the light's forces. At the time it should have been evacuated but they had returned for a few possessions via a secret passage.

Harry shook his head and closed his eyes again. For too long he had lived with should haves and might have beens. Now he was working towards a real goal. The plan was simple, Tahiti, a beach full of naked women and a new body for V. Hopefully in that order and maybe some world domination if time allowed for it.

Harry drifted off to sleep again with vague thoughts of wet T-shirt contests and a limitless supply of booze. After all, it was the little things that keep you going.

"_Harry?"_

Harry rolled over in his sleep but the voice wouldn't go away. It kept getting louder and angrier.

"_HARRY POTTER!!"_

"For the love of Dumbledore's smoldering socks what do you want now V?!" Harry grumbled.

He rolled out of bed and looked around expecting to see something out of the ordinary.

But nothing was amiss, there were no dementors pounding at the gates craving a midnight snack. He stumbled over to the sink and locked eyes with the gaunt man in the mirror. He didn't like to look in the mirror that often. It only reminded him of the past, and there was a suspicious mold growing around the edges Harry suspected was highly hallucinogenic. He had tried some once out of boredom and had woken up three days later with no recollection of what had happened. V swore up and down that he had no idea either but Harry was sure he was hiding something.

The man stared at him with dull green eyes before looking away. His hair was everywhere and looked like it had been run through a dryer without a static trap. That combined with his beard made him look like a wild man. He scratched at his beard then looked around again. Something felt off in the room but he wasn't sure what it was yet.

"Come on V, what do you want?" There was a hint of annoyance in his voice this time as V had failed to say anything for a few minutes now. Usually he'd be blabbering away about something or other by now.

"_I'm done!" _V said gleefully, _"Aaand I started the ritual drawings but I'll let you do the final touch."_

Harry took a moment to shake off the shock of hearing V happy then glanced down at the intricate rune drawings on the floor by his bed. He let out a low whistle as he took in the intricacy of the rune work and the small amount of blood V had used.

"So that's how it's gonna work huh?" Harry murmured.

He was so amazed by the complexity of the ritual that he forgot to get angry at V for taking over his body without permission. He looked over the runes again and for the first time in years felt a faint glimmer of hope.

"Ok, if I remember right I just have to draw the door now yes?"

"_Correct. I'll do the rest. Just remember Harry, it only needs to be just large enough for us to crawl through. The size of the doorway will coincide with the amount of power required to open it and maintain the connection. We'll have twenty seconds at most."_

Harry didn't waste any time. He sliced his finger on a sharp edge of the mirror and quickly drew a small doorway on the wall. It would be just enough to get through. Inside his head Harry could hear Voldemort chanting.

The portal started to hum and the door began to glow a soft yellow. As the chanting continued it changed colors, first to red then to orange. Finally as the chanting reached a crescendo and the doorway burst open with a flash.

At first Harry was blinded by the overwhelming light but as his vision slowly returned he could see what looked like the inside of another cell.

"This is your plan!? You're going to put us back in jail? What the hell is wrong with you? What happened to Tahiti!?" Harry yelled, mentally he was kicking himself for trusting V.

"_Change of plans just get through the portal before it closes!"_

Harry didn't really see a point. From the looks of it they would just be in the next cell and the dementors would be able to get at them then. At least in this cell there were wards on the bars to keep them out.

"_Just do it!!"_

Harry was about to crawl through the portal when the scene on the other side warped and changed. Instead of the next cell there was nothing but a black void and the cold feeling in the room spiked. Harry looked up in confusion and saw the dementors at the cell door holding out their boney hands. Under the combined weight of those gathered at the door and the feeling emanating from the portal Harry could barely breathe. He shook under the strain of just holding himself on his hands and knees. He was sure he didn't want to go where the portal led to now.

"_Interfering swine!" _RoaredV in a voice Harry hadn't heard since their final battle._ "You dare to stop Lord Voldemort?!"_

With a sudden searing pain Harry felt Voldemort push every ounce of his power into the ritual and the portal resumed its previous image with a faint flickering.

"_Now Harry…I am nearly spent." _V grunted.

Harry didn't have time to think. He hurtled forward through the portal and it closed behind them sealing the dementor's chill with it. Harry got to his feet quickly expecting to be inundated with boney hands and sucking mouths. Instead the air felt warm and the call of gulls sounded outside.

"Uhh…V what happened?" Harry asked as he looked expectantly towards the cell door.

"_Made…it_..._" _rasped V. _"Too bad…Tahiti would have been nice."_

Harry felt the presence that had been with him for over ten years slowly fade away until nothing remained. He was alone in his mind once more. It struck him that Voldemort, the madman who had taken everything away from him, had just sacrificed himself to give Harry another chance. At what was still to be discovered.

"Fat lot of good this did me." Harry sighed, "I'm still in Azkaban."

He wasn't sad that V had died. It just felt so empty being alone in his head again. He had grown accustomed to chatting with V, arguing with him and tuning him out when he started to whine or go on about blood purity and the last crusade. Harry sat in the center of the floor and sighed feeling profoundly tired. V had used a lot of Harry's power to fuel the portal. He would need a few days to recover fully and he was sure the dementors wouldn't give him that. In his weakened state he wouldn't be able to fend off a puppy much less demons.

"Excuse me."

Harry froze as a terribly familiar voice spoke from the corner of the cell. He didn't dare look up. There was no way he could be here, that person had died a long time ago. But there was no denying the shaggy form that rose from its cot and took a shaky step towards Harry.

"What are you doing in my cell?" asked Sirius Black.

AN: Slightly edited for grammar.


	2. Escape

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or V or any of the other characters that may and probably will come into play

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or V or any of the other characters that may and probably will come into play. Don't sue me please! I make no money!

AN: Back by popular demand! I can't tell you how uplifting it is to see a mail box full of review alerts. I was going to just let this one sit as is but you've changed my mind and this plot bunny decided to breed! Hope you enjoy chapter two!

Harry let out a long breath. The trip through the portal had been taxing enough. Now he was face to face with his long dead godfather. Had V survived he probably would have been laughing.

"So that's what the extra runes were for…" Harry muttered to himself.

The gate V had created wasn't just a portal to Tahiti, it had been meant to move through time as well as space.

"Hey! Stop muttering to yourself and answer my question, what are you doing in my cell?"

Grey eyes locked with dull green for a moment and Harry saw a flicker of recognition.

"Scratch what you're doing here…who are you?" Sirius asked taking a step towards Harry.

Harry only stared at the man in front of him with impassively. This shouldn't be possible but then V had said something about this years ago...

_Seven years earlier…_

"_So what your saying is that, if we can pull off this gateway we can travel anywhere in the world?" Harry asked aloud._

"_Yes." V replied, "But I see possibility here Harry, with a few alterations this gate could transverse far more than just space."_

"_You're talking about time travel..."_

"_Yes and no… all my research suggested that time travel, in the traditional sense, is fruitless. Say you went back in time to kill me as a boy…"_

"_You know that's a great idea, why don't we do that?" Harry interrupted and he received a painful mental poke at his scar for it._

"_Shut up and listen Potter…anyway we already know that you didn't kill me as a boy, so even if you went back in time it would be impossible. You could come at me over and over again but if you were locked to this time line events would transpire in just such a way that I survived.. We know this because we are here and I am still more or less alive. …it is one of the basic paradoxes of time travel which supposedly make it impossible."_

_  
"Ok…" replied Harry rubbing his scar, "So why would you include that in the gate then?"_

"_The act of traveling back in time should create another reality to accommodate our arrival."_

_The only reason Harry was following any of this was because he and V were sharing the same mind. Even so it made his head hurt._

"_One where Volderpot showed up out of no where." Harry supplied and smirked at his own nickname. He used it whenever he could to annoy V and it always seemed to work. Considering there were more or less one person at the moment he found it kind of fitting._

"_Will you stop calling us VOLDERPOT!!" V raged and Harry actually laughed._

"_I finally got you to say it!" He cheered._

_Seven years later…_

Harry smiled at the memory remembering how V hadn't talked to him for a week after that. Not that Sirius could see it through his mangled beard. Harry glanced up at him again and shook his head.

"My name isn't really important right now." Harry said in a low growl, "We should worry about what's going to happen when the guards come and find me sitting in here with you."

Sirius seemed to pale a bit at that and quickly looked around as if an exit would suddenly pop out of the wall for them to escape through.

"Well how did you get in here, can't you go back the way you came?"

Harry sighed. He was still a bit dizzy from the magical exhaustion but if he didn't strain himself he would be alright. Still he didn't have the energy to recreate the portal, redo the calculations on the fly…anything really.

"It was a one way door. Neither of us has the power open it again and trust me it was a lot worse where I come from."

Sirius gave him a skeptical look. He probably doubted there was anywhere worse than Azkaban and in part he was right, Harry had come _from_ Azkaban, but the oppressive aura of the dementors wasn't nearly as bad here. In fact it was almost nice in this cell. The bars weren't charmed to obliterate anything that touched them and it even had a window…a window!

Harry jumped up from his place on the floor and rushed over to the window. With a tentative finger he touched the bars. Nothing happened. He grabbed hold of both. Still nothing.

Sirius was giving him an odd look but Harry didn't pay any attention. He was free. Back in his world the authorities had known about his animagus form and taken steps to prevent him from just flying away. But this was Sirius Black's cell and the authorities had no such concerns about him.

He was about to transform when a pang of guilt hit him. He was about to fly off and just leave Sirius here. While he wasn't exactly Harry's godfather he couldn't just leave an innocent man in a place like this. But then, was Sirius innocent?

Harry rounded on the confused convict and stared him right in the eye. Harry was no legilimens but he was pretty sure he'd know if Sirius was lying.

"Did you betray Lily and James Potter to Voldemort? Were you their secret keeper?" Harry asked suddenly very serious.

Harry watched as anger lit up Sirius' worn features and he knew the answer he would receive before it came.

"Of course not! I would never betray my best mate to that bastard! It was Petti..." he stopped and glared at Harry, "Just who the fu…"

"I told you my name isn't important." Harry interrupted.

"Like bloody hell it isn't! You just show up out of nowhere and start asking questions like that. Who do you think you are?!"

Harry didn't answer for a moment. He looked at the anger etched on Sirius' face, the pain of being accused, yet again, for his best friend's death. He had to do something for him.

"How does a beach full of naked ladies sound?" Harry asked.

Sirius gave him a confused look, his anger temporarily forgotten. "That sounds fantastic actually."

"Excellent" Harry said beaming, "Now we just need to figure out how to get out of here."

"Wait…what? What do you mean 'get out of here'?"

Harry shrugged, "Well I don't plan on sticking around here. I don't know about you but the food sucks and there is a severe lack of booze and the aforementioned naked women. So what do you say, want to come with me?"

While Sirius pondered the question of whether or not to follow a strange man to a mythical beach of unclothed women Harry looked around for possible escape routes. By the time Sirius announced that he was indeed ready to go on a little vacation Harry still had no idea how to get out of here.

"So what's the plan stranger?" Sirius asked eagerly.

Harry looked at him and shrugged, "No idea, but it'll come to me."

Sirius seemed to deflate a little at that.

"You're a nutter aren't you?"

"Not at all I just…oh look. We have company!" Harry said motioning to the door.

An icy chill had filled the cell while the two were talking. Floating just outside the door was a dementor.

"Right…we're screwed." Sirius muttered as he pressed his back against the wall to keep as far away from the thing as possible. "What the hell are you doing?"

Harry had taken a few steps closer and was staring at the black space under the dementor's hood where its face should be.

The dementor stared at Harry.

Harry stared back.

The dementor continued to stare at Harry.

Harry continued to stare back.

This went on for five minutes. Then, just as Sirius was starting to get worried that they might start snogging, they broke apart and the door swung open.

"Time to go Sirius." Harry said happily.

"Wha…what the hell did you just do?!" Sirius asked horrorstruck.

"I convinced this dementor that I was a Dark Lord and if it let me out I would give it plenty of victims to feed on." Harry said jovially, like causing pain and misery was is favorite passtime. "Now you coming or not? He won't leave the door open forever."

Sirius just stared at Harry.

"Sirius…bikinis and beer. Remember them! Stay focued!"

This seemed to snap Sirius out of his stupor and Harry strolled out of the cell with Sirius following behind, eyeing the dementor warily.

"So how are we getting past the other guards?" Sirius asked as they walked down the cellblock.

Harry smirked. "That's easy padfoot."

- - - - - -

_Three Hours Later_

"I know this is a beach…uhh what was your name again?"

"Harry." Harry supplied as he dragged himself out of the water.

"Right Harry, so as I was saying, we're on the beach…where are the ladies?" Sirius asked wringing his shirt sleeve out.

Harry let out a long sigh and cast a drying charm on his clothes with the wand he had stolen from the front office.

"Over there." He pointed down the beach.

Predictably Sirius' head whipped around to see where Harry was pointing.

"Liar…" Sirius muttered.

Harry would have laughed were he not so grumpy from his recent dip in the freezing cold water.

"Well they would be here but you decided to drag me along with you for a swim in the channel. So I told them to go home." Harry said emptying his shoe of water.

"With your Dark Lord powers…" Sirius said.

"Yes, with my 'Dark Lord powers'." Harry agreed patiently.

"How do I know you aren't really a dark wizard anyway?" Serious asked.

"Well…lets see. I saved your life. I didn't kill anyone on the way out, though I should have….and my teeth are pearly white? See? Seriously have you ever seen Voldemort's molars? They're disgusting!"

"No…" Sirius said gravely, "That just means you're an evil dentist."

Harry shook his head and cast a drying charm on Sirius hoping it would assure him that Harry's intentions were pure.

"So your name is Harry huh? Harry what?"

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. This was a bridge he did not want to cross yet. "It's Harry Shut-up-you-don't-get-to-know-yet."

"Jeez no need to be so mean. I was just asking your name." Sirius said sounding offended. "So what, I'd know you were a death eater if you told me? Or are all you Dark Lords supposed to keep your real name secret?"

Harry took that moment to transfigure their prison garb into simple slacks and shirts with dark cloaks and ignored Sirius' teasing. He could tell Sirius didn't mean anything by it but he was still miffed.

"So what is it?" Sirius continued. "Malfoy? Hmm no you don't have the hair for it…Lestrange! Hmm no that can't be it…Crabbe! Wait no…you're not stupid…"

Sirius kept guessing possible death eater names as they walked up the shore looking for shelter. They found a cave a few miles up the coast and decided to bed down there for the night. Harry had made certain that the dementors wouldn't follow them, at least for a little while.

"Snape! Hmm that must be it. You're Snape's illegitimate squib brother! Tell me I'm wrong!"

In answer to Sirius' statement Harry set fire to the driftwood they had collected.

"Ok so you're Snape's illegitimate brother who can do magic but was…"

"I'll tell you but you have to promise to be quiet and let me sleep. I need to recuperate." Harry said, cutting Sirius off before he could start up about how he was related to Snape. The thought of being related to that snarky, vile man made him want to burn all his hair off and dip head in acid.

Sirius nodded in acceptance and sat patiently.

"My name is Harry James Potter." He paused waiting for the explosion but nothing came. Sirius sat there staring at him like a very interesting museum piece. "You don't have _anything_ to say to that? Nothing at all?"

Sirius sat for a few more seconds then shook his head. "Nothing that can't wait until tomorrow."

Harry was surprised but decided not to skip his first chance in many years to have a full night's sleep. He had the wand and if Sirius tried anything Harry would wake in a second. He drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

- - - - - - -

The next morning Harry woke suddenly though he wasn't sure why. He felt a lot stronger now that he had slept but it would be a long time before he fully recovered from his time in Azkaban. Without Voldemort to fuel him Harry wasn't sure he could survive another trip to prison.

Ignoring Sirius' sleeping form he stumbled down to the water's edge and dunked his head under the cold water. Now he was awake.

Shaking his head off Harry brought up his stolen wand and vanished the tangled mess that had grown on his face. The features underneath didn't look any more pleasant than the beard had. A gaunt man deeply resembling James Potter stared back at Harry. At 24 he still looked like his father.

After Harry looked somewhat decent he rose and walked back to the cave. Sirius was leaning against the wall staring at the ashes of last night's fire. He looked up when Harry entered the cave and he jumped a little in surprise.

"You look just like him…" he gasped.

"I assume you're referring to James." Harry said as he sat down opposite Sirius and leaned against the wall of the cave.

"I am. How did you know? Oh…yea."

Was it just Harry or did Sirius seem a little depressed? He had had some of the old fire last night but now he seemed so subdued. Then again his Sirius had probably been out of it the first day he escaped Azkaban as well.

"The same way I knew your animagus form before you transformed or that you weren't guilty of the crime you were accused of." Harry shrugged, "Though I suppose that is a pretty weak answer. I'll try to give you the abridged version of how I got here."

Harry spent the next twenty minutes outlining his life in the other timeline, sirius' role in his life and the basics of how he came to be in this timeline.

"That's quite a story Harry but you have to admit it's a bit hard to swallow. How do I know I can trust you?"

Harry agreed, if he was in Sirius' position he wasn't sure he could believe a story like that either. It was such a bizarre story, sometimes Harry didn't believe it either.

Deciding to show a bit of faith in Sirius he tossed the ex-con the stolen wand.

"Go ahead and cast finite if you think I am under a glamour and I think we can rule out polyjuice."

Sirius caught the wand deftly but didn't point it at Harry. Instead he levitated a few logs into the fire pit then relit it. Using magic seemed to perk Sirius up a bit and he tossed the wand back once he was done.

"I didn't say I suspected you…not after you broke me out of prison and saved my life. It's just strange seeing a body double of James walking around…"

"Heh if you think I'm bad wait until you see this world's Harry. It'll be freaky how much he looks like James from his school years."

"This world's Harry?" Sirius asked looking up form the fire.

"Yea, he is your godson after all…isn't he?" Harry asked not seeing the sadness written on Sirius' face.

"Harry…there are some things you should know…"

- - -

Elsewhere new had gotten out that Sirius Black, notorius death eater, had escaped from Azkaban. Rumors began to circulate that he was still angry about the fall of the dark lord and he would seek vengeance against the one who had killed his master. He would try to kill the Girl-Who-Lived.


	3. Not the same

A/N: Well it seems some apologies are in order. I'm sorry this chapter has been so long in coming. I truly am. I know the frustration of reading a story and enjoying it very much only for it to end abruptly however hopefully the extra time I've had to think about the plot will have improved it some. I should warn you though, things are going to get bumpy for Harry and crew.

"Your tone is very reassuring Sirius." Harry commented dryly as he took a seat across the fire pit.

Sirius didn't seem to hear Harry at first. He stared into the fire, or past it, with an unreadable expression on his face but Harry recognized the look in his eyes. He was reliving something unpleasant. A lot of the prisoners got this way in the high security ward.

"Sirius." Harry prompted.

That seemed to snap him out of the memories.

"That night." he said raggedly, "It all happened so fast. When I arrived I found your father by the back door. He wasn't moving but he was outside and the house was on fire. I...I didn't have time to think! I ran to the nursery and found Cassie but I couldn't find you or Lily anywhere."

Harry filed that bit of information away in the back of his mind. He doubted they were still alive but it was something worth looking into.

Meanwhile Sirius had gone white as a sheet and he clenched his hands into fists to keep them from shaking. It seemed he had suffered more than the Sirius Harry knew. Guilt was a weapon the Dementors knew best how to use.

"I had to run. I had to...the house was coming down around me and...I let you die Harry!" Sirius sobbed, "I'm sorry I let you die Harry! I'm sorry!"

For a moment Harry wasn't sure what to say. Then he realized that he knew exactly how Sirius felt.

"We're equal." Harry said, startling Sirius out of his hysterics. "I let you down in my world Sirius and I died here in this one. Fate is a bitch like that, we have to accept it and move on. But Sirius, who is Cassie?"

Sirius seemed confused by the question but after a few seconds nodded numbly. That got Harry's attention. All of a sudden it seemed obvious to him that Sirius was acting very strange. When they had first escaped he seemed relatively normal. Something wasn't adding up here.

_Some sort of withdrawal? Poison in the food maybe_? Harry thought to himself.

"Cassie." Sirius said slowly, "She was a sweet little girl. Had you're dad's..."

Sirius never finished his description. Before Harry could rise to his feet the ex-con keeled over sideways in a dead faint.

_What the hell?_ Harry thought angrily.

He couldn't think of anything that would cause this. He'd never heard of prisoners who were released from Azkaban suffering like this. Hagrid surely hadn't shown any ill effects upon his return during Harry's second year.

_**Pain can be addictive**_. A voice said from the back of Harry's mind causing his heart to skip a beat.

_V? Is that you?_

Moments passed in silence but nothing answered him. His mind still felt as empty as it had the day before. The voice was definitely V's but Harry soon realized it was little more than an echo of a conversation he had had long ago when the subject of resisting the dementors had come up. When he focused on that memory the voice came again.

_**They are more insidious than we give them credit for. The dementors don't just feed off the negative memories they conjure. They actually drain that energy from their victims. Before they were understood dementors were thought to devour nightmares. It is possible they did such things before they were chained to Azkaban. They have changed however,, they only take enough to nourish themselves for a short while leaving most of the negative energy to fester inside the host. Without the dementors to remove that energy on a regular basis a wizard's own body has to restore the balance on it's own. A number of my best death eaters suffered for days after their escape due to this side effect.**_

"Thanks professor." Harry muttered to himself.

He had said the same thing years earlier after V had finished his lecture. It had infuriated the former Dark Lord.

Unfortunately this left Harry with a bit of a problem. If his memory served him right the authorities and, more importantly, the dementors, would be scouring the countryside for the two of them any time now. If they didn't find a better place to hide soon their escape would be cut short. If only he had a dementor handy to siphon off the negative energy left in Sirius. He was sure that would speed his recovery.

As if in answer to his thoughts Harry caught the dark flowing shape of a dementor out of the corner of his eye. He stood slowly, drawing his wand and turning to face the beast. He knew full well he would not be able to repel it.

Minutes passed and the attack he expected never came. There was also no dread aura chilling the cave.

"Ah, you again." Harry said recognizing his 'friend' from before, "I expect you want your orders now that you are out."

The dementor made no discernable move to confirm this but Harry nodded anyway.

"Get over here and drain off what's left in him then." Harry said pointing to Sirius, "But leave the soul, I want it for myself."

Harry gave the dementor a stern look as it floated over to Sirius and went to work. It was probably just his imagination but Harry got the feeling it was a bit put out.

"I think I'll call you Jo. Try to lead them away from here if you can Jo." Harry said after the dementor had finished feeding and began drifting back toward the cave entrance.

It stopped and turned as if to say, 'you are very strange.' before continuing on its way out of the cave.

"I'll call you when I need you Jo!" Harry shouted after the creature.

Silence answered him.

Sirius didn't wake until early evening. By that time Harry had gone out and caught a few fish with the stolen wand. He would have caught more but it was a poor match for him and even the most basic spells required more effort than he really wanted to exert. Harry knew he needed to conserve as much magical energy as possible after the strain he'd put himself through traveling through the gateway. He'd learned a thing or two from all the time he'd spent in the hospital wing at Hogwarts and magical exhaustion was no laughing matter.

Now he sat happily savoring a taste he had so long been denied.

"Wahappened?" Sirius slurred as he sat up.

"You passed out after crying all over me." Harry said matter-of-factly.

"Wha...holy hell I wasn't dreaming!" Sirius shouted coming fully awake..

He inched away from Harry and the fire as if he were staring down a particularly unhappy poltergeist.

"Fish?" Harry offered.

Sirius just stared at the fish and then at the man offering it to him.

"I thought I was having a nightmare.." he said ignoring Harry's offering, "But it's real. You.. you're real!"

"Fine, no fish for you." Harry muttered and bit into it.

"And of course I'm real!" He added indignantly.

"But...how?" Sirius asked lost for words.

Harry shrugged and spat out a bone.

"Don't you remember the story I told you?" he asked.

"Well sort of...I remember you saying something about a veil and the war ending and how you ended up in prison with Voldemort. I was a bit delirious by that point."

"So I did." Harry agreed.

"But none of that makes any sense!" he yelled rubbing his eyes in frustration.

"Yet. Now shut up and eat." Harry said thrusting a fish at Sirius.

Sirius seemed ready to argue again but his stomach let him know who was really in charge. He only hesitated a moment before he took the offered food and set upon it ravenously. They spent the rest of their meal in an easy silence.

It was nearing sundown when Harry decided it was time to resume the conversation they had left off earlier.

"Sirius, who is Cassie?" Harry asked.

Sirius was visibly startled by the question but he recovered immediately.

"She's your sister." Sirius answered, "But you should know that already."

"I never had a sister where I came from. Not one that I knew of anyway." Harry said shaking his head.

"Oh. Well Cassandra was only three months old when it happened. It's possible she hadn't been born yet where you come from." Sirius said with a shrug.

"Cassandra?" Harry asked clearly confused, "What kind of name is that?"

He had fully expected his mother to continue the family tradition of naming female offspring after flowers.

"A very good one!" Sirius said a little too defensively.

"You probably came up with it." Harry mused and confirmed his statement with a sideways glance at Sirius, "How'd you pull that off?"

"I made your father a bet and had him swear a wizard's oath to honor it if I won." Sirius said with a chuckle.

Harry smiled at that. He'd apparently wandered into the right topic for Sirius to open up a bit. He would need to build some trust with him if they were to survive and clear Sirius' name.

"What was the bet?" He asked.

"A marauder never tells." Sirius replied grinning, "But it involved many shots of firewhiskey and a miniature horse."

"Maybe I don't want to know after all..." Harry said and they both laughed at that.

."We need to leave here tomorrow. I don't doubt Jo's allegiance to me but we'll be found sooner or later if we stay here. I don't feel up to apparating yet so...ideas?"

"Well my parents had a cottage near here, we could probably make it there in a day or so. Wait a minute who is Jo?"

"My pet dementor." Harry said offhandedly.

"Your WHAT?"

The following morning they set out for the cottage Sirius had mentioned the night before. When Harry tried to press him for the exact location of this 'cottage' Sirius pointed vaguely inland and shrugged. He was quick to assure Harry they could make it in less than a day but Harry wasn't buying it. He had never heard of this cottage before and for all he knew Sirius could still be suffering from dementor withdrawal. Unfortunately it was their only option until they recovered enough to apparate.

Six hours of hard walking later the hills that had seemed fairly small in the distance had become considerably larger and the air was hovering just above freezing. Storm clouds followed their advance inland threatening to drench them if they didn't reach shelter quickly.

Harry was already shivering in his thread bare clothes and Sirius had transformed into his dog form to stay warm. He was forging a path through the boggy terrain, zig zagging through the grass and showing Harry the safest path forward. He had already lost his footing once and sunk his leg up to the hip in muddy water.

Finally after what seemed like ages the black canine fell into step with Harry and in the blink of an eye Sirius stood beside him. Harry couldn't help but be impressed by the ease of his transformation. It still took Harry a few moments to reconfigure himself. Though that was mostly due to lack of practice.

"We're getting close." Sirius said and gestured to a set of hills about a mile away. "How are you holding up?"

"It's bloody cold." Harry admitted, "If I didn't think I'd freeze to death I'd transform as well. You are sure we're getting close right?"

Sirius nodded.

"It's just a little farther. See those trees up along there?" he asked indicating a stand of trees about two kilometers away.

"Yea?"

"It's in among those trees. Go figure but my parents were proud that they could see Azkaban from the top floor on a clear day."

"Charming." Harry said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You have no idea." Sirius replied with a grin.

In the blink of an eye he was back in dog form and loping ahead again.

As it turned out Sirius was, for once, right. It only took another thirty minutes to reach the edge of the wards surrounding the Black cottage..

"You'll have to stay here for a few minutes." Sirius said as they came to the invisible barrier, "I'll be back once I disengage the ward stone. It shouldn't take long."

Harry reached into his pocket and threw Sirius the wand he had stolen during their escape. He hated handing it over. It made him feel a little better just holding it but he knew Sirius would need it if there were any problems. Besides it barely worked for him anyway.

"Be careful!" Harry called as Sirius disappeared further up the slope.

"I'll send you a signal when I'm done." Sirius's voice drifted back through the trees.

As soon as he was sure Sirius was out of sight Harry's hand went to massaging an ache in his arm that had been growing steadily worse over the past day. Ever since V had channeled that massive blast of energy through Harry's body something had felt wrong.

In the days before his incarceration Harry had taken steps to ensure Dumbledore didn't try to do something for the greater good as he was often wont to do. Not that his precautions had helped. Now it seemed his past actions were coming back to bite him in the ass again.

There was no easy way to undo what had been done. The Viscultus charm was a nasty piece of work. A specialty of the Black family, it had been developed centuries ago to aid in the smuggling of dark artifacts. Aside from a very obvious scar the spell left no way to detect the hidden cargo. It created a pocket of negative space bound in the carrier's flesh like an enlarged trunk or a magical tent. If it wasn't so excruciatingly painful Harry was sure it would still be in use today.

Harry had found the spell in the Black library after Sirius's death and he thought of it again when Dumbledore informed him of the final solution he had come up with for Voldemort. His talk of 'sacrificing for the good of all' had told Harry everything he needed to know. The old man would gladly send Harry to his death if it meant Voldemort went with him. But he had gone ahead with it anyway. It was their last chance at victory. He chuckled darkly at that, victory had certainly come at a high price hadn't it?

At least he had saved his wand from being snapped.

A green flare from a few meters up the hill drew Harry out of his musings. He could think about what to do with his arm once they were safely under cover.

The scene Harry came upon wasn't what he had expected. The cottage still stood but just barely. The outside structure looked as if it would collapse in a strong breeze and there were scorch marks near all of the upper story windows. The yard wasn't much better; Harry had to pick his way through a field of craters to reach Sirius at the front door. Someone had been expecting an attack.

"The wards are down but whatever happened wasn't recent." Sirius said when Harry got close, "Let's have a look shall we?"

Harry nodded and followed Sirius as he led the way into the darkened house.

The entrance hall was narrow and ran along to the back wall of the house where it made a sharp right turn. Doors lined the walls on either side of the hall spaced a few feet apart.

Sirius moved to the end of the hallway, paused, then signaled Harry forward.

In the past there had been a stairwell the lead both to the basement and to the upper floor. Unfortunately a good portion of the roof had collapsed in on it blocking the path up and down. Harry didn't think it would be worth the trouble trying to get through without a proper wand.

"Looks like I won't be setting up any temporary wards…" Sirius said frowning.

"It wouldn't have been worth it anyway. We are better off resting." Harry said turning back down the hall. "Where's the kitchen?"

"Back behind us." Sirius replied.

He motioning down the hallway.

"Second door on the right."

Entering the kitchen Harry found it in the same condition as the rest of the house. Jagged shards of dishes lay scattered across the floor and counters. At one end of the room a heavy wooden table had been upended and used as a makeshift barricade. Unsurprisingly there was no refrigerator but Harry correctly assumed that the door behind the upturned table led to the pantry. He picked his way across the room making sure to avoid the larger shards of glass since he didn't have any shoes and poked his head through the door.

Harry wasn't sure how, but the pantry seemed even colder than the rest of the house and there were no windows making it very dim inside. He could just barely make out a row of shelves in the center of the room and the outline of tables along the walls. The smell of decay that hung in the air told him it was unlikely he would find anything edible but he wandered into the gloom anyway picking up anything that caught his eye and didn't smell rancid. Sirius was right, whatever happened here had transpired long ago.

Preservation spells lasted a long time and they generally only failed for two reasons. Either the spell finally ran out of energy or the caster had died.

Near the back of the room he found two things of interest. Sitting on a shelf behind a jar of black liquid was an untouched bottle of firewhiskey. He pocketed that without a second though and almost tripped in his haste to leave. In the murky darkness of the floor he had missed the corpse of a man.

Leaning in close Harry could see the remains were mummified. The poor bastard had died screaming, that much was obvious. The tattered green battle robes that still clung to the corpse apparently hadn't protected it from whatever enemy it had faced in the past. Harry was about to leave when he noticed an insignia stitched poor to the shoulder of the man's robes. He couldn't make out any detail in the darkness so he reached down and gently tore away the section of cloth it was on. The robe was in such bad shape that it came free very easily.

Pocketing the insignia Harry headed back towards the kitchen; there was no point in trying to move the body. He wasn't about to dig a grave for some bigoted pureblood and it wasn't like it was going to rise from the dead and attack them.

Back in the kitchen Sirius had righted the table and cleaned away most of broken glass on the floor. He must have come across a couple of chairs and a few candles somewhere because the kitchen was now bathed in soft yellow light. Harry could see that it was already starting to get dark outside and snow was beginning to fall. Sirius was already seated at the table with his head resting in his arms.

"Must be winter." Harry noted as he sat down at the table. He had been wondering what time of year it was.

"Find anything good?" Sirius asked without bothering to sit up.

"Just this." Harry said producing the bottle of firewhiskey.

"Good man." Sirius muttered appreciatively.

As soon as Harry set it down Sirius grabbed the bottle and expertly removed the cap with one hand. He didn't lift his head until absolutely necessary and then downed a good quarter of the container.

"One might think you've never done that before." Harry commented dryly after taking a seat.

Sirius just snorted and took another long drag from the amber bottle before handing it back to Harry who down a respectable portion as well.

"Never thought I'd taste something that fine again." Sirius sighed, "I never thanked you for getting me out of there so...thanks."

"Wish I could have done it sooner." Harry admitted, "I bet Cassie will be happy to see you, I know I was."

"Heh she always laughed when she saw my face." Sirius admitted, "Makes you feel good the first couple of times but I have to admit it makes you a little self conscious when a 3 month old finds your face hysterically funny _every_ time she sees it. I mean what's so funny about my face?"

"Do you really want me to answer that Padfoot?"

Sirius lifted his head enough to get a peek at Harry's face then shook his head.

"Hmm good point." he said and swiftly changed the subject. "Find anything else in the pantry?"

"A few jars of something unmentionable and some pickled horror. Oh and a mummified body." Harry said ticking each item off on his fingers.

"Ah…" Sirius said resting his head on the table and letting his arms fall to his side. "I guess finding bodies in pantries is an everyday experience for you isn't it?"

Harry shrugged, "You'd be surprised. At least it isn't missing anything. The people I fought during the war were especially bitter. They'd usually lop off a hand or a leg depending on how much trouble you gave them."

"Are these the same bitter people we have to fight again now?"

"Probably." Harry admitted

"Lovely."

It was now totally dark outside and the windows rattled slightly as the storm picked up strength outside. Sirius was obviously exhausted and Harry was also ready for a decent night's sleep.

"Did you see anywhere to sleep while you were checking the house?"

"Most of the guest rooms were on the second floor." Sirius said groping around for the bottle again, "The sitting room was only partially demolished and there's a couch in there."

Harry nudged the bottle into the back of Sirius' hand and smirked when he automatically grabbed it.

"Right, I'm going to get some sleep. Try not to drink all of that while I'm out." Harry said.

It was already half gone and Sirius didn't seem like he was going to stop drinking any time soon.

"I make no promises." He grunted pulling the bottle a little closer.

"Fine, then just don't fall asleep like that."

All Harry received was a muffled grunt as he exited the kitchen and crossed the hall to the sitting room. Away from the heavy walls of the kitchen he could hear the wind blowing outside. It was a lot colder in here as wellbut Harry didn't mind. The couch was soft and the second his head hit the cushion he was out like a light.

It was some time later that night that Harry felt another presence in the room with him. He resisted the urge to roll off the couch and held as still as possible. He noticed the room was a lot warmer than it should have been and he could detect a faint glow through his eyelids. Finally he opened his eyes and saw where that glow was coming from. A young woman stood at the center of the room smiling at him. The light seemed to emanate from around her making the whole experience feel very surreal. Harry was sure that was he dreaming.

"You seem comfortable." She said as she looked around the room. "Nice place you have here."

"Only the best." Harry replied with a grin, "If it starts raining I might be able to take a shower over in the corner there where the roof leaks."

Harry just watched calmly as the woman walked over and leaned over him. Her red hair flowed gracefully over her shoulders and hung a few inches above his face. He could smell the faint scent of wildflowers coming from her. A scent that was all too familiar.

"It's been a long time Gin." he said sadly, "You look good."

"I suppose." she said thoughtfully, "On the other hand you look terrible and your arm..."

She reached out and Harry's flesh broke out in goosebumps where her hand touched. By the light she was giving off he could see dark veins shooting off from the viscultis scar. It looked infected. He hadn't realized just how bad the scar was getting but he couldn't bring himself to care, he finally had a moment with the woman he loved. Even if it was just a dream he would enjoy every second.

"Yea, maybe I should do something about that." he said dismissively.

"Maybe." She repeated teasingly and leaned over kissing him gently on the lips.

For Harry everything stopped and even though he knew deep down that this was just a dream he couldn't help but wonder if it was real. All of it _felt_ just like he remember it.

"You don't seem surprised to see me." She said when they broke apart, "Most men would be a little freaked out if their dead girlfriend just showed up in a different reality with them."

"Well I'm dreaming after all." he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"If you say so."

She shrugged and tapped him on the nose. Harry gave her a confused look but before he could ask her what she meant Ginny stood up and walked back to the center of the room.

"I guess I should get down to business. I was sent here to deliver a message."

Harry just stared at her completely confused, this was one weird dream. After the silence had stretched on for a few minutes curiosity got the better of him.

"Well? What's the message?"

She grinned as if she had just played some sort of trick on him and began to speak in a mock deep voice.

"See you soon and thanks for opening the way. From an old friend. And before you ask I was strictly forbidden from telling you who sent me. Though I'm technically working for someone else now the oath still stands."

"Well that's cryptic." Harry deadpanned. "What do you mean you work for someone else now?"

"Sorry Harry I can't tell you that either but you'll find out eventually." She said cheerfully.

She started toward him again when she paused and glanced up at the ceiling then sighed.

"Looks like our time is up, I had hoped we'd get to chat a bit more but rules are rules. We'll see each other again Harry." She said with a sad smile, "Oh and sorry for this."

"What do you..."

Before Harry could finish his sentence Ginny trotted over and ran her finger along his viscultis scar. He felt a surge of energy seep down into his skin and then everything went black.

Distantly he heard someone screaming but he couldn't bring himself to care. He just wanted to sleep. And he slept.

In the kitchen Sirius fell out of his chair as a piercing scream range throughout the ruined house. In seconds he was on his feet and in the sitting room where Harry lay clutching his arm. In his half drunken state Sirius didn't notice the faint smell of wildflowers still hanging in the air. All he saw was his best friend on the floor screaming in agony.

"James! James come on! Snap out of it man. What's wrong?" He yelled frantically.

His words weren't getting through and James was rapidly getting worse. His screams had deteriorated to moans and he was slick with sweat. Whatever was wrong Sirius knew he couldn't heal his friend so he didn't the only thing he could think of. In a surprised show of strength his lifted his best friend in his arms and turned on the spot, disappearing with a loud pop.

Bellatrix Black sighed as she slipped out of her robes and stepped into the shower. This was the one time of day she could really relax. No owls to pester her, no floo calls at inopportune moments, and no more bloody paperwork. Just a nice. hot. shower. She could feel the steaming water go to work almost instantly and for a while she just stood where she was and enjoyed that pleasant sensation.

Then, just as quickly, her favorite part of the day was cut short. She had begun lathering her hair there came a low buzzing that filled every corner of the bathroom. Someone was calling her private floo line and there were only a select few people who had access. She had made sure that every one of them understood she was only to be contacted at home if the world was ending or someone had an arm off.

Sadly it wasn't nearly as uncommon as it should have been for someone to lose a limb in day to day life when one was a wizard. Perhaps if the repercussions were permanent wizards would put more consideration into personal safety. But that was neither here nor there.

"Coming!" she called over the hiss of the shower.

The buzzing got louder and more annoying as she took an extra moment to washed most of the soap from her hair. That was a bad sign. It meant whoever was on the line was in a state of panic.

She stepped out of the shower wrapping a towel around herself as she did so.

"Merlin alright! Just a minute!" she bellowed and put off wrapping her hair.

So, clad only in a towel and dripping from head to toe, Bellatrix strode into her bedroom. She quickly proceeded to emit an undignified squawk quite unbecoming a daughter of the most noble house of Black and, had she had her wand, probably would have obliterated her fireplace. There in the fire, sat the head of one of her coworkers at Saint Mungo's, David Tenat.

"David how _the hell _ did you get this address!" she raged as she searched her bedside table for her wand.

"Well Bella...you see..." David's disembodied head sputtered but before he could explain Bella cut him off.

"This had better not be about work." She warned and threw up her hands.

She couldn't find her wand. Staring daggers at him would have to suffice. It certainly had an effect, if a disembodied head could fidget David's certainly would have been at the moment.

"Well..." David began again and again he was cut off.

"Who is it this time?" Bella asked, her voice mellowing some.

"The Greengrass boy, he's refusing his potions again." David said, blushing. "His fever has already gone up significantly. I..."

"You must be joking. You called my private floo for this? David are you a healer or aren't you? I can't believe you would bother me fifteen minutes after I get home over a little boy who won't take his medicine! If he won't take it himself find a way to make him take it. I know you're devious enough to think of one."

"But..." David tried to interject but Bella wasn't finished.

"No buts. You figure it out on your own and if you ever bother me at home for something like this again I'll personally transfigure you into one of those thermometers the muggles are so keen on, you know the ones I'm talking about." She said and turned back toward the bathroom, "I'm finishing my shower now David, get back to work."

"But Bellatrix..." He whined.

This was a mistake.

"NOW!" She roared.

The fire and David's head disappeared without a sound and Bella was left blissfully alone again. She sighed and brushed a few strands of hair from her brow, something she did often when she was thinking or worried. Working as the head healer of the pediatric ward at St. Mungo's had it's perks but then again she also had to deal with morons like Tenat. Honestly it wasn't entirely his fault. He was only a half blood and landing a job a St. Mungo's had been hard enough for him in the first place. The fact that he had a job was itself proof that he had _some _talent. However if he wasn't careful when it came to his bedside manner there was the very real possibility that his pureblood patients could have him fired. As much as the wizarding world had progressed in the last fifty years such things still happened with alarming frequency.

"I work with cowards and idiots." She concluded to herself and made her way back into the bathroom and the safety of the shower.

Just as she was about to step in again there came another sound. Higher than the one before and shorter. Someone had just apparated onto her property. She gave the steaming shower one last longing look before shutting off the water and pulling on a bathrobe. She had just enough time to wrangle her hair into a loose pony tail before her visitor started pounding on the door.

"Yea, I'm coming!" she yelled as the pounding got louder.

Bella sighed as she made her way to the front door, the universe must have been laughing at her. All she wanted to do was relax for a few minutes before she went to bed and this was what she had to deal with. She could only imagine who was so desperate to see her that they felt it necessary to practically knock down her door at midnight.

As she reached the door she put on her best scowl and yanked the door open.

"What the hell do you... Sirius?"

She seemed to visibly deflate at the sight of her favorite cousin. She didn't even care that he was freshly escaped from prison. The accusations leveled against him had been a load of dragon dung. However man who looked disturbingly like James Potter clutched in his arms did give her pause.

"Please Bella, help him!"


End file.
